


Admission Fee

by Ylevihs



Series: How Not to Fall [29]
Category: Fallen Hero Series - Malin Rydén, Fallen Hero: Rebirth (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Retribution Spoilers, awkward idiots, brief spoon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 12:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20639330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ylevihs/pseuds/Ylevihs
Summary: The price is free, if you know how to do it right





	Admission Fee

“Alright. I, uh…I guess it’s time to address the elephant in the room. Because we both know he’s said something by now,”

The breeze blowing through the park around them was cool by Los Diablos’ standards. Several people had already dawned light sweaters and hoodies, making Chen and Richard’s own clothing less of an anomaly. Richard picked at a loose thread on his own pullover and tried not to shift around too much. The constant movement sometimes made his bench mate uneasy. Sometimes didn’t. 

Chen didn’t look away from where he was watching Spoon dart and bolt around the bodies of smaller dogs, excited and eager. He’d been good about not pressing for information on the bruises but Richard could feel it circling between his temples. The car accident story had been seen through as entirely bullshit and it had unsettled Chen in a way that Richard could feel in his fingertips. He wasn’t sure why that would be the lie—what sort of fight had? What sort of. Richard had tried not to linger. “Alright,” he agreed quietly. Richard watched him from the corner of his eye as he leaned more of his weight forward onto his knees, passing the leash back and forth between his hands. 

Chen was Dangerous. He warranted the mental capitalization because no matter how many Saturday mornings Richard spent in the park with him, he still had no idea quite where he stood with the Marshal. They. Ah, beans, they didn’t feel like friends. Not really. But they’d been months removed from where every other word was a loaded spring trap. Less barbs to go around. Not that he had much experience being friendly, Ortega was a force of amiable nature and didn’t quite count. So, maybe they were friends? Maybe.   
Richard tried not to think about the small echo of concern that reverbed from his head as Richard had lied about his injuries. 

That didn’t mean there was trust between them. Didn’t mean. It had been Chen who had pulled Richard aside months ago and, without possibly knowing what he was really saying, had warned Richard not to hurt Daniel. And now they were going to be living together. Daniel wanted to get married someday, to somebody, but for goodness sake he wanted to move in with Richard. 

A dull, distant drum beat radiated down his leg as his hip joint throbbed. Richard exhaled hard and beside him Chen did the same, as if to say: Well. Alright then, let’s get this over with. 

They spoke in unison.

“Danny’s moving in with me,”

“Ricardo and I are together,” and then Chen added on a soft profanity. Which felt just about right. Well. Shit.

Richard’s thoughts went still and placid for a long moment. Birds chirped. Dogs barked. The bustle and murmur of the other people in the park, my wasn’t it a nice day out for a walk? And then they erupted. 

“Wait, what?” too loud, not a shout, but louder than he’d wanted it to be and Chen’s cringe was stiff but it was far too honest. Together? Together together? “Wait, wait. When did? I…,” without realizing it, Richard’s hand had threaded into his hair and were tugging. An incredibly poor attempt to self soothe himself back into something like a calm state of mind. “You,” like a swivel, Richard’s attention rotated back to Chen and immediately felt his stomach twist sharply and tug down. A hard swallow because that was a very, very unfamiliar look on Chen’s face and it didn’t. It didn’t suit him. “Okay,” because it felt like the only thing he could say without his tongue exploding against his teeth. 

Chen answered it with a hard snort. “Okay?” it was wrong to see Chen looking nervous. As though Richard had somehow managed to pry into more than just his thoughts. His fingers were desperate to twist themselves into knots.

“Sorry. Just, ah, beans, just trying to,” Richard pulled his hands from his hair and let them fall down in between his knees. Trying to slot the pieces together of when. Not that it mattered much when, but it mattered hugely when. Because if it was recent enough. If it had only been a few days. Or even a week. It stuck like something sharp caught between his back teeth. “That’s uh,…I mean I guess I didn’t think Ricardo was interested in men,” which was a solid contender for first place in understatement of the century. And. 

Don’t say it.

Don’t say it. Don’t say it. Don’t say. 

They rose up in his throat anyway, bitter and heinous. I guess you’re the exception. That would be a pretty shitty. It also wasn’t true, knowledge that grated against the nerves in his broken tooth. Mitzi had caught his attention because she caught everyone’s attention. But. Ortega had said once that if he’d asked. If he’d asked. Richard swallowed those thoughts back and tried not to choke on them. That wasn’t what this was about. The might have beens and maybe’s could been agonized over on another day. If Richard could be in love with Daniel then there was no reason Chen and Ortega couldn’t. With each other. He shook his head and instead his mind focused in more on the. On the other half of it. Ortega hadn’t said anything. It had been Chen. His not quite friend who had. 

Chen clearly didn’t know where to go with that either. “Well,” Chen was never particularly open but it seemed waves of awkward anxiety were leaking from him now. Unsure of what Richard was going to do with the information. Richard wasn’t sure either. 

“It’s good,” Richard tried not to spit the words. It was good. This was a good thing. Ortega and Chen were best. Were very clearly. Which didn’t stop Chen from blinking at him rapidly at the declaration. “He didn’t tell me you two were involved though,” too much acid but Richard couldn’t stop everything from showing. 

“Oh,” which pretty much covered it. Oh. “I thought he would have,” and they both let that statement tick on the ground, waiting to set something off. When it proved to be a dud, Richard saw some of the tension leave the lines of Chen’s shoulders. It would have been easy to poke at it until the shrapnel tore in deep to both of them. It was incredibly difficult not to let it.

Ortega hadn’t told him. 

Richard didn’t deserve to know about it, that much was obvious. He couldn’t let it sting. Couldn’t let it rear back and up and. Ortega was allowed to have secrets. Allowed to keep things private. Allowed not to tell him that he was sleeping with Wei Chen. Or in love with? Was it love? Chen had just said together which could mean a million different things and now that he knew he’d just dropped a bombshell there was no way he would let his guard down. No more answers there. Why would Ortega have told Richard anyway? It wasn’t as if Richard had ever been honest with him. Wasn’t as if. 

“Is it good? Between you two, things are…they’re okay?” two seconds ago, Richard would have bet good money it would have been impossible for Chen to look even more unnerved. A losing horse, clearly. 

“They’re fine,” he managed. Obviously not the conversation he thought he was going to be having today. 

“Good,” Richard offered back, meaning it. “That’s the important part,” more to himself than to Chen, but it seemed that it had the right effect on him as well. There was a terribly long lull and in it Chen whistled for Spoon to come back to him. The dog’s attention snapped upwards, there was an urge to. Richard quieted it and gently redirected that instinct towards Chen. 

“So Danny’s moving in with you,” Chen was on equally unsteady footing. Clear from the tone of his voice and the way he tightened and relaxed his grip on the leash and. Spoon had arrived and brought with him visible relief for both of them. The dog pushed his muzzled snout into Chen’s hands and panted noisily, doing his best to lick at the fingers holding his leash. Richard took the liberty of reaching out and patting a hard muscled shoulder and was rewarded with Spoon’s thoughts pitching happily upwards at the attention. 

“Yep,” 

“He, uh, he didn’t tell me about that,”

“Oh,” it took every fiber of his being not to echo the earlier sentiment. He assumed Daniel would have said something, much in the same way Chen had clearly believed Ortega would tell Richard. They both should have been the first to say something about it to, well, anyone. Richard had told Ortega about it, as casually as he could. Walking together after therapy in a way he didn’t think would ever be possible and Ortega had teased him about wedding dates again. And Ortega hadn’t. No. Richard pumped the brakes. “Well,”

“Yeah. Good talk,” 

-

Richard’s fingers felt slick on the keys as he slid them into the locks on his own apartment door, mind trying not to think about. Trying not to. 

Was Ricardo trying to prove some sort of point? About how much it hurt to have your best friend keep secrets from you? About. 

“Stop it,” he muttered to himself. Nothing good would come from thinking like that. Maybe Ortega had just been waiting for the right time. Or the right words. Or didn’t even know where to begin with telling Richard that he had been right to think Ortega would be. Stop it. Dr. Finch had warned him about thinking himself into bleak spaces and to focus on not making assumptions about other people’s motives. Ha. Easier said than done. 

Daniel was in the apartment somewhere, the soft rustle of his thoughts could be felt on the walls like feathers on a wind current. Easy and relaxed. Trying to figure out which of his things he could move into the apartment and which things could be trashed and which things he might be able to weasel in. 

The door swung open and Richard caught a glimpse of him, floating from the kitchen to the living room, inspecting the mostly bare walls. Daniel kept some nice pieces in his own space and Richard could feel him taking mental measurements of how they could be hung. He had a good eye for it. 

The locks clicking back into place were loud enough to announce his arrival but he tacked on a “Hey,” for good measure. Daniel didn’t look back at him but offered up a ‘hey’ in response. Followed quickly by:

“How was the park?”

Richard bit back on the unnamed thing still trying to rip his molars out in an attempt to leave his throat. “Fine,” a bad lie, one that had Daniel’s thoughts stop swirling around the empty spaces in his apartment and begin slipping up against him. “How was the press conference?” they didn’t settle, but they slowed a fraction, drifting now rather than spiraling. He moved into the living room and looked up at where Daniel was trying to imagine the landscape painting from his hallway might hang. Something in his thoughts went to spikes. “That bad?” 

“There were a lot of questions about,” about how obvious it was getting that Herald was being groomed to be the new Marshal. The press conference hadn’t even included Marshal Chen, with the excuse of it being a smaller affair, only two or three reporters. It had served to make it feel more like an interrogation, Richard could tell. “About when I’ll be stepping up,” because Chen was too hard and Ortega had danced that dance and Argent was too aggressive. They need someone nice and shiny and malleable and had found something promising in Herald. Thought they had found something in Herald. 

The razor blade edge hidden in the cotton candy always sliced in deep when it was least expected. 

Daniel, some of them were finding, was no stranger to high expectations. To having restrictions on what he could and couldn’t say. Should and shouldn’t do. And to tactfully ignoring what those restrictions were. Finding out ways to worm around and wriggle between the cracks and shake off the expectations of his ‘betters’. He’d spent his whole childhood figuring out how to get free from the weight of his family’s legacy and their carefully laid plans for him. The Rangers’ PR team was discovering it was a lot harder to keep Daniel flying inside the lines than they’d counted on. 

Like now. “One of them asked about you. Sort of,” Not about him. About Daniel’s love life, and oh dear. Had he? He had. 

“You told them?” Richard couldn’t stop the small note of hysterical wonder in his voice. Every other thought in his head about Ortega or Chen or not deserving anything got drop kicked out a third story window. He’d told them?

“They asked,” Daniel said with more than a little defiance. “So I didn’t lie about it,” Two simple exchanges. Are you single? Muffled snickering from the other few reporters. I have a boyfriend. And that had sent the Rangers’ staff clearing the room quicker than a live grenade. “There,” the penny seemed to drop. “There are probably going to be people watching me now,” another twinkle of coins hitting. “Oh, shit, I didn’t even,” 

Richard stuffed his own panic into box in the back of his head. One of his hands found Daniel’s, fingers slipping together and squeezing. “There are always people watching, Danny,” Always. Looking for the slip up, the missed step. And now the Rangers’ Golden Boy had admitted that he was. Well, at least that he had. A boyfriend. The gossip mags would be losing their minds. “Did you leave immediately after?”

“…,” a loud and resounding yes from every wingbeat. There wasn’t a single fiber of Daniel’s being that wanted to deal with the fall out of that. At least not right now. Small wisps of anxiety and fear and. “Well, it’s out now at least,” and. 

Oh.

Oh.

“Daniel, are you alright?” Richard let himself tug slightly, and Daniel sank with the request. Not fully to the ground, but enough to where he was more at eye level. 

“Of course,” unsteadily, because of course, there wasn’t anything wrong with what he’d said. Nothing to be ashamed of. That part at least was up front and genuine. Daniel was still quick and bright enough not to be bogged down by that kind of ugly thinking. 

But maybe a thing or two to be worried about as the public wasn’t always kind about that sort of thing. Corporations weren’t always so kind about that sort of thing. Daniel’s thoughts very pointedly tried not to go towards his parents. Failed. He’d said once that they didn’t pay too much attention to the goings on on the West Coast anyway, preferring to gloss over the living son. But that didn’t mean. Some things got back quicker than others and. He didn’t care what they thought. They weren’t. They were still his. “I guess I have to be, right?” a weak laugh and Richard couldn’t stop himself from pulling Daniel into his arms.

His rib whimpered and Richard clamped down on it, sending it somewhere dark to lick its wounds. Not now. It was a slow movement for Daniel to hug him back but it lingered and in it Richard could feel Daniel trying to calm himself. Working himself back into a steady heartbeat. He was remarkably good at it, shuffling the mild anxiety back into a deck of self reassurances. 

“You don’t have to be, you know,” Richard pressed his lips against Daniel’s temple and let them rest there. “You’re allowed to not be alright sometimes, it’s not like I have a monopoly on being a mess. Well,” something unsightly and guilt ridden piped up and said that it was awfully hard to compete with his pathetic drama sometimes. That it was always his fault when things turned grim and heavy. Always him needing to be comforted. It was shushed. This wasn’t about him right now. Right now he could kiss Daniel’s temple again and run a hand over his back. “Alright maybe I do, but I hear the rent on those properties is pretty cheap,” a smaller but slightly more genuine laugh. 

“No, I. I, yeah. I mean I’ll be alright. I just guess I’ve never said it before now?” the question was being sent inwards rather than out to Richard and he let it sink in without prying. Until one of Daniel’s thoughts rose up higher than the others and Richard couldn’t stop himself. 

“You’ve been thinking about getting married to a man but you never told anyone you were dating one?” more than just thinking from the feel of it. Day dreaming about it. Multiple things in Richard’s chest shifted and rolled in barely contained nervous energy. 

“Well it’s not like it comes up often in conversation,” there was something like a smile in Daniel’s voice as he calmed down. Richard let the embrace relax and felt the shift in his side; the rib was healing but it wasn’t pleased with that sort of activity. The pain was shelved, Daniel was blushing. 

“Still,” Richard poked a little, delighted with how Daniel’s face suddenly turned playful and haughty.

“Well,” he drew out the syllable and Richard felt his thoughts slip slip slipping towards. “If that’s what you want to talk about,”

“Oh no,”

“Oh yes,” Daniel said with equal relish and Richard couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “I’m thinking Daniel Abekket,” it was teasing. Meant to be playful and trying to keep the mood light and oh, god, he had been thinking about it. Thinking about how the name felt on his tongue and if it suited him or if he might keep his own if the time ever came or if. 

“Shut up,”

“I’m serious, besides Richard Sullivan sounds like you host a late night TV show,”

**Author's Note:**

> *stares blankly at the middle distance until someone owns up and mercy kills me*


End file.
